The Four Ages of the world narrated in the Avestan Südgar/Südkar commentary of the poetic gathas reminds one of very similar accounts in both Greek and Vedic mythologies.

Südgar is the first of the ancient Avestan commentaries on the poetic gathas or the sacred verses of the seer/prophet Zarathûshtrá. The name Süd-gar/kar means the “creator/producer of advantage.”

Süd-kar commentarial style is to take a verse or word from the gathic original and explain it in reference to mythological narratives found in the Avestan Yašts or ancient hymns. Many passages have parallels in other Middle Iranian texts and the Persian rivāyats or correspondences.

For example we read in Yasna 31.5: “Voice in words to me….of those things that will not be or will be.”

Süd-kar commentary on the aforementioned verse follows by a narration of the 4 ages of the world rooted in ancient Indo European mythological past.

The same account is repeated in the Zand ī Vahman Yasn (ZWY I.3): u-š wan-ēw bun padiš bae deed kee čahár azg padiš büd ék zareen ûd ék aseemín ûd ék pöláwadeen ûd ék áhan abar gûmeex éstád

And he saw the trunk of a tree that had four branches, one golden, and one silver, and one steel and one of mixed iron.

The Südkar apocalyptic account is extremely similar to Mahābhārata. Also a resembling theme could be observed at the saules koks “tree of the sun” among the Balts, as well as the lœraðr tree in Völuspá and Grimnismál in the Norse lore.

Truth is that an depth understanding of the poetic gathas is only possible within the context of ancient Indo European ideas, beliefs, magic of wordplays and worldview.

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Avestan xratu, ḵratü, Homeric krátos “triumph of the spirit, seer-will, superior wisdom.”

Persian xratu is the word for “superior wisdom.” The ancient Indo- Iranian xratu or accurately ḵratü is interchangeable with Mazdá, the supreme god in the poetic gathas.

Avestan ḵratü, Vedic kratú, Greek krátos is “the triumph of the spirit or superiority of mind-power.” Ḵratü is closely associated with manas “passion, energy, spirit, sensuous force.”

Avestan ḵratü is “the unmatched creativity of the Seer-Will.” In it “vision, wisdom and superior skill” are ONE. Lommel’s translation of ḵratü as “Geisteskraft” or “the unmatched power of spirit/mind to create, manifest” is right on the dot.

Mazdá and/or Ma(n)zdá (*mens-dheh-) incorporates the Indo European noun *mens of the stem ménos (spirit/mind, will power, passion, sensuous force) and the verb *dheh “to set, establish, do, create.” Hence, Mazdá translates into “setting mind power, spirit, fiery passion to do, create, manifest.”

In the Older Avesta and the rest of the Zoroastrian sacred lore, Ahûrás are ahûrá or god beings because of their ḵratü “superior mind-power and unmatched creativity, good genius.”

In the Rig Veda, kratú is best translated as “wisdom of manifestation.” The word is used in the context of spiritual power or the seer/poet’s craft. The Rig Veda conceives the seer/poet as a kárú, meaning “maker, creator, worker.” The notion of the Rig Vedic seer/poets is one of uniting spiritual energy with accomplishment and result called kratú in Sanskrit. Kratú is also the “answer to prayers” during the Yajna offering.

In Homeric terms krátos is “superiority.” Krátos is to be connected with the Avestan ḵratü “the triumph of the spirit, the magical will-power.” The Greek term kratús, just like the Avestan ḵraôžd (See Yasna 30.5, 2^nd rhymed verse line) is related to Gothic hardus “hard, solid, firm.”

In both Greek and Avestan there is an overlap of the two word families. This is well illustrated by the twofold use of the word kraterós for example.

“Come to my aid, friends, I am alone,” shouts Idomeneus, “I am sorely afraid of swift-footed Aeneas, who is coming against me; he is very karterós to slay men in battle and he is in the flower of youth, which is the greatest krátos” (Il. 13, 481ff.).

Tomorrow the god will give krátos to whom he wishes,” says Odysseus to his young rivals (Od. 21, 280).

When Idomeneus sees Aeneas coming against him he calls on his friends: “I am afraid: he has the flower of youth, this greatest superiority (krátos mégiston). For if we were of like age in this our ardor, swiftly would he win great advantage (méga krátos) or else I would” (Il. 13, 486).

Zeus proclaims (11, 191; cf. 17, 205). Peleus, when sending his son Achilles to Agamemnon, gave him this advice: “Krátos will be given you by Athena and Hera if they so wish. Do you restrain your proud heart in your breast” (9, 254).

“to have the advantage, triumph” (Il. 5, 175; 21, 315); secondly, “exercise power,” often with a determinant in the genitive, the name of a country or people: “over the Argives” (1, 79), “over all” (1, 288), or in the dative in the Odyssey, “over the dead” (11, 485), “over men and gods” (16, 265).

Avestan ḵratü is “the triumph of the spirit or the superiority of mind-power” which animates the Seer-Will into being. It has the same conceptual nucleus as the Homeric krátos.

I shall conclude by the 3^rd rhymed verse line of Yasna 28.1: “Through the unmatched creativity (ḵratüm) of vôhü-man (awe-inspiring spirit/mind;) You will delight the soul of the living universe (primordial cow.) ”

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The term ḵratü appears in the following places in the poetic gathas:

In the form of “Ḵratüš”

Yasna 31.9 in the first rhymed verse line, second stanza

Yasna 31.11 in the second rhymed verse line, first stanza

Yasna 32.14 in the first rhymed verse line, second stanza

In the form of “Ḵratavö”

Yasna 45.2 in the third rhymed verse line

Yasna 46.3 in the third rhymed verse line

In the form of “Ḵratüm”

Yasna 28.1 in the third rhymed verse line first stanza

Yasna 32.9 b the first rhymed verse line, second stanza

(Yasna 48.3 in the fourth rhymed verse line is comparable to Yasna 28.1 in the third rhymed verse line first stanza.)

In the form of “hû-ḵratüsh”

Yasna 34.10 in the first rhymed verse line second stanza

Yasna 51. 5 in the second rhymed verse line second stanza

In the form of “Ḵratü”

Yasna 45.6 in the fifth rhymed verse line

Yasna 48.10 in the fourth rhymed verse line

(Yasna 48.10 in the fourth rhymed verse line is comparable to Yasna 49.4 in the first rhymed verse line.)

In the form of “Ḵrathwá”

Yasna 31.7 in the second rhymed verse line, first stanza

Yasna 48.3 in the fourth rhymed verse line

Yasna 53.3 in the fourth rhymed verse line

In the form of “Ḵratéûsh”

Yasna 32.4 in the third rhymed verse line, first stanza

Yasna 34.14 in the third rhymed verse line, second stanza

Yasna 43.6 in the fifth rhymed verse line

Yasna 46.18 in the fifth rhymed verse line

Yasna 49.6 in the second rhymed verse line

Yasna 50.6 in the third rhymed verse line

In the form of Ḵratháv

Yasna 48.4 in the fourth rhymed verse line

In the form of Ḵrapaitî

Yasna 40.1 in the second rhymed verse line.

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April 22^nd is the great festival of ašá/arthá in the Avestan calendar. In the Zoroastrian religious calculation whenever the name of the god being that presides over the month and the day coincide, there is cause for great joy, festivity and celebration and April 22^nd is such a day.

Prophet Zarathûštrá invokes ašá/arthá more than any other god entity in his poetic gathas. Ašá/Arthá is an ahüric god force or god being of greatest importance in the Old Avestan sacred poetry.

Ašá/Arthá in the poetic gathas is “excellence, virtue, artistry, ingenuity, inventiveness, superb order.”

In Old Avestan poetry, ašá/arthá is a grammatical neuter such as in ašem and/or Vedic r̥tám. But when the seer/prophet wants to address ašá directly or represent ašá as a speaking figure, ašá/arthá becomes masculine.

This change in grammatical gender is identical to the Indo-Iranian god being of “pact/contract” Avestan Mithrö and/or Vedic Mitrá. Mitrá/Mithrö is the masculinized form of the neuter mitrám/mithrem “pact, contract.”

In Indo European poetry talents/virtues could be made into god beings by giving them an animate gender.

Avestan ašá and/or arthá, Vedic r̥tá and Latin ars, artus, ritus, are all referable to a root ar “right fit, precise arrangement, ingenious order.”

This root is well known outside Indo-Iranian because of it numerous formations. Among examples could be cited; Greek ararískō “fit, adapt, harmonize” Gr. artús “order,” artúnō “arrange, equip” Gr. árthron “joint, limb”; Latin ars, artis, “qualification, talent” Lat. artus ‘joint’ ritus ‘rite.

In Indo European poetry everywhere the root ar is: “the right fit, precision, artistry, perfect order.”

We have a striking correlation between aśá/arthá and the concept of thémis designating family law in ancient Greek poetry.

Thémis is of heavenly origin, and the plural thémistes stands for the sum total of codes inspired by the gods, a collection of oracular responses which determine how to proceed every time the order of the génos “kin, race, creation” is at stake.

The phrase hḕ thémis estín, which is usually translated “as is fit and right” in Illiad.2, 72-73 is a fitting example. Here Agamemnon is speaking of how to exercise the thémis, which prescribes “the way he has to proceed and the usages to be observed.”

In Book 16 of the Iliad, l. 387, we see “the anger of Zeus towards men who deliver by the use of violence, unjust decrees thémistes.

In Illiad it is expressly stated: it is by virtue of divine order that the helmet which belonged to Achilles, must never be sullied with dust. This is because Achilles was a “godlike man” (anḕr theîos, l. 798.)

The connection between Old Avestan ašá/arthá and thémis in Illiad could be best demonstrated by the 2^nd rhymed verse line of Yasna 31.7 of the poetic gathas: hvö ḵrathwá dámiš ašem//yá dárayat vahištem manö “his superior/unmatched wisdom is the deviser of artistry, excellence//which is upheld by the most wondrous spirit/mind.

Here dámiš ašem “devising of artistry virtue, excellence, ingenuity,” relates directly to the notion thémis. In fact, both dámiš and thémis come from the root dhe/ ðhe “to establish in a creative way, to establish into existence” by the gods.

The second part of Mazdá (God of Genius, Willpower, Mind) comes from the same exact root of dhe/ ðhe.

I shall conclude by stating that in Old Avestan poetry ašá/arthá “artistry, ingenuity, excellence, virtue, luminosity” is the wondrous self of god, (See Yansa 39.5, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The god beings are divine because of their ašá/arthá because of their “virtue, talent, luminosity and ingenuity.”

Ašá/Arthá “artistry, ingenuity, inventiveness, excellence,” is what governs the worlds; the relations between Immortals and mortal men; and the relations of mortal men to other life forms and one another.

Without the ease of ašá/arthá everything is just disorder, injury, a lie or trick called drûj in the Avestan terminology.

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The word for “prize” in the poetic gathas is mîždá, it signifies “reward, recompense or prize for a brilliant adventure.” Avestan mîždá is a term common to Indo-Iranian, Greek, Germanic and Slavic.

Mîždá is related to Greek misthós (μισθός), Vedic mīḍha, Old English meord, Gothic mizdo, Old Slavic mižda. [Courtesy of Didier Calin]

The Vedic term mīḍha “prize in a competition” also Vedic mīḍhvas “magnanimity,” the term for “greatness, bountifulness and generosity” are all connected.

The Avestan mîždá “hard-won prize” is to be found in this life and in the promised world to come—awarded to the one who emerges victorious from a struggle or a competition.

Right at the beginning of the Odyssey (1, 5), where the subject is the tribulations of Odysseus, the hero, of whom the poet asks the muse to sing, ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων ‘he who seeks to gain his own life and the return of his companions’.

By hard struggles and in the course of many trials over which he triumphs, he wins the prize, which is to have saved his life and secured the return of his companions.

In the poetic gathas, the hard-won prize, the prize gained by the victor in a hazardous exploit is “godhood or divinity” the virtue and wisdom “to become godlike.”

We read in the 3^rd rhymed verse line of Yasna 34.13; hyat civištá hû-dábyö//mîždem mazdá ýehyá tü dathrem “the promised reward to the wise, to the creators of good//of which you are the prize Mazdá.”

In Yasna 40.1 of the poetic gathas, Mazdá, the quintessence of ahûrá or godhood is asked for mazdá-ship, “power of the spirit, will, mind to create, manifest and triumph.”

It is the potential of a superior godman, who justifies the existence of the human race. Friedrich Nietzsche, in Also sprach Zarathustra (1883–85) could not have said it better that Zarathushtra, spoke thus: Man is a rope, tied between beast and superman-a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.

The poetic gathas teach that humans can become gods. We have to learn how to be Gods ourselves. We believe that in the ages to come, through the creative power of spirit/mind, through triumph of the will, mortal man at last may become like God – a God.”

The poetic gathas teach that mortal men can become divine, that man is potentiality of godhood limited by mortality for now, and that the only difference between Gods, angels and men is a difference in their power of spirit/mind, their will to triumph over all obstacles and limitations, their creativity and power of imagination.

In Mazd-yasná; God never stops progressing. Mazdá is constantly increasing his power of spirit/mind and creativity; constantly developing in wisdom/virtues and brilliant aspirations.

And our ultimate triumph, our hard-won  prize is to become a God like Mazdá, through triumph of the will, through the creative power of spirit/mind.

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Öhrmazd is the middle Iranian for the Avestan “Ahûrá Mazdá,” or the Old Avestan “Mazdá Ahûrá.” The very name Öhrmazd incorporates godhood and that he is an ahûrá or god being/power.

Ahûrá is related to the Old Norse term for the principal race of Gods or the Æsir.

We read in the Greater Bün-Dahišn (the Basis of Creation,) Chapter 1.34

Öhrmazd pîš az dám-dahišnî nî büd ḵvadáy, ud pas az dám-dahišnî ḵvadáy ud süd-ḵvastár ud farzánag, ud jud-bîš áškárag ud hamæ-ráyénîdár ud afzönig har-visp nigerîdár büd.

Öhrmazd before creativity and manifesting the creation was not a god-force, but after the creation of the creatures, He became a god-power; willing all advantage/boons; sagacious and immune from any harm; manifest and reigning over all, flourishing/ever-increasing and all visionary.

The negative particle nî in the text could be a revision or correction of what looks like ráy. But the point made is profound; Öhrmazd is ḵvadá or God because of his “creativity, excellence, virtues and brilliant imagination.”

In other words, the godhood of ahûras come from their “creativity, will to triumph and their foresight.”

In the poetic gathas, Yasna 46.17, 5^th rhymed verse line; the term used is dañgrá mantü “super skillful or incredible mind power,” also the “extraordinary powers of the spirit/will to triumph.”

The term Mazdá itself denotes the Indo European (*mens-dheh-) or when the “spirit/mind, will power, fiery passion, imagination” (*mens) is “set to establish, do, create” (dheh) [Courtesy of Didier Calin.]

The pagan Germanic tribes likewise believed that divinity or godhood was most present in “creativity and vision.”

The ancient commentary of the most sacred ahü vairyö mantra (will to become an ahûrá or god-power,) links the godhood/dominion of ahûrá to empowering the restricted/limited with wondrous powers and making them gods.

ḵvadáyî ö Öhrmazd dád bavîd [u-š Öhrmazd abar tan-î ḵvîš ḵvadáyî ud pádiḵšá kard bavîd] kî ö driyöšán dahîd vehigán [ud parvarišn kü-šán ayárömandî ud jádag-gövî kunînd]

The idea is that Öhrmazd is God because of his creativity/virtues. Furthermore, Öhrmazd is God because he wants to make gods/immortals out of the limited, restricted mortals.

Mortals enthrone Öhrmazd as their Creative God and Ruler King, to overcome their limitations and boundaries, to be free and unlimited; and to redeem themselves to superhuman sacred values.

This stands in great contrast to Mesopotamian Gods whose very essence is terror, tyranny and slavish relation of mortal men to them.

It shall be noted that many Avestan hymns like the hymn to Mithra/Miθra start with the statement of Ahûrá Mazdá that he created Mithra/Miθra and other adorable beings and made them as worthy of worship/adoration and prayers as Ahûrá Mazdá himself (10.1).

I shall conclude by the following most beautiful words that best describe the idea of godhood for us;

“There they stood . . . the immortals who are the source of all our blessings.”   Homer: Odyssey

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In the seasonal Avestan calendar, May 25 marks the festival of haûrvatát. The Avestan term haûrvatát comes from the root haûrva and refers to “integral health, haleness or great health in all parts.”

Haûrvatát is “wholeness of mind/body, good health and freedom from sickness.” In Zoroastrian teachings health, wholeness and wellbeing are divine.

Haûrvatát’s Vedic equivalent is sarvá-tāt “intactness, wholeness” and Greek Hólos. The Latin term salute originally meaning “good health, well-being, safety from disease” comes from the same root.

In Isis and Osiris 46, Plutarch translates Haûrvatát as Πλοῦτος ploutos “Riches, fullness of life” and equates Haûrvatát with “Plutus,” the Greek god of riches.

The translation of Plutarch has a close parallel in the poetic gathas. The term “health with flow of riches/vitality” haûrvatáß draônö occurs in Yasna 33.8, 3^rd rhymed verse line and “good, delightful life” hû-jyátöiš is substituted for haûrvatát in Yasna 32.5, 1^st rhymed verse line.

The closest connection to haûrvatát’s idea is probably in the Gothic hails, which expresses the notion of “safety from disease, health, spiritual and corporal haleness, integrity, wholeness.”

Old Icelandic heil “good, happy omen,” and heilsa “salute, wishing good health” continue along the same line of thinking.

In runes, we read Wodini hailag translated as “endowed by Wotan with good health, well-being, haleness.”

We also read in the poetic gathas; mazdáv dadát ahûrö haûrvatö ameretátaß-čá; Mazda, the ahûrá, gives health/every cure and immortality, deathlessness; (See Yasna 31.21, 1^st rhymed verse line.)

The Avestan haûrvatát teaches the idea that to be intact and “bursting with health and vigorous energy” is divine. By its very nature divinity possesses every formula of “health, well-being” and it bestows this on mortals in the form of great health and by omens of good fortune.”

The Zoroastrian religiosity is rooted in the will to enhance, increase and strengthen life. Zoroastrianism is the religion of healthy mind/spirit and NOT the faith of a sick soul. It is HEALTHY both in spirit and body. It strives for equilibrium, wholeness and wellness in each and every part of being. Great Health permeates the religious life of the ancient Zoroastrian faith.

In Zoroastrianism, there is NO conflict between body and soul. The healthy body is an expression of a vigorous soul.

For this reason, every idea of killing the senses, of asceticism, lies impossibly remote from Zoroastrianism, and appears as an attempt to belie rather than balance nature.

The Mazdyasni vision is that of the spirit/soul which finds health, well-being and spiritual freedom in the material world and in the physical body. Such a good vision comprehends the whole being, the whole world, the whole universe and human life in it, as part of a creative, artistic order.

The furtherance of all growth comes from the Immortals, the prospering of cattle and of the fruits of the fields; the Immortals present mortals “with success, health, children and everything good and beautiful.”

In the Zoroastrian faith, there is a continuous struggle between on the one hand, the divine will of life, growth, prosperity well-being, wholeness, which strives to shape and introduce superb order for the enhancement of every living thing, and a will hostile to excellence; which brings disintegration, distortion, destruction, and decay of every life-force.

The All-Good God Ahûrá Mazdá (Öhrmazd) perpetually battles against the anti-excellence and narrow limitations of the gloomy, beaten spirit añgrö or Ahriman.

I shall conclude by a beautiful verse from the poetic gathas, Yasna 33.10, 1^st rhymed verse line; vîspáv-stöi hû-jîtayö “all the good, delightful lives that have been, and those that are, and those that shall come to be are Yours Mazdá.”

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Hárut and Márut are the name of two angels who taught mankind “every miraculous formula.” They are mentioned once in the Koran (2:96 [2:102].)

The passage admonishes the Jewish people concerning king Solomon. The koranic verse states: “Solomon did not disbelieve, but the satans disbelieved, teaching the people sorcery [siḥr] and what had been sent down to the two angels in Babel [Babylon], Hārut and Mārut; they do not teach anyone without first saying: ‘We are only a temptation, so do not disbelieve,’ so they learn from them means by which they separate man and wife; but they do not injure any one thereby, except by the permission of Allah.”

The origin of the angels is unexplained but they are cited as initially two of the purest and noblest of the angels in the Koranic commentaries. Muslim philologists knew well that Hárut and Márut were not of Arabic origin.

The THEME of the koranic verse is ultimately based on the love of the “sons of Elohim” and the daughters of men in Genesis 6:1-4, with the motif of the fallen angels who mastered “every magic.”

However, the origin of their name is definitely Indo European and goes back to the Auspicious Immortals of Zoroastrianism. Hárut and Márut are none other than the two amešá/amertá speñtás of the poetic gathas namely: haûrvatát and ameretát.

Haûrvatát is the “miraculous power of healing, every cure, wholeness and wellbeing.” Greek hólos, Gothic hails and Old Icelandic heil “good, happy omen” are close cognates. Ameretát is “deathlessness and immortality.”

Moslem commentaries state that it is Hárut who performs magic (nirang.) Nirang or more accurately Neyrang is a technical Zoroastrian term that refers to effective formulas. In the context of haûrvatát, Neyrang refers to “every cure or restorative formula.”

In Armenian literature haûrvatát and ameretát were also combined to form Hauraut-Mauraut, the name for a flower of the hyacinth family used in popular rites on Ascension Day, (See Dumézil).

The 14th-century Armenian John VI Cantacouzenus cites the legend of Arōt and Marōt, whom God has sent to earth “in order to rule well and justly.”

The great Persian poet Rumi, explains “that the intellect and spirit are imprisoned in clay, like Hárut and Márut in the pit of Babylon” (R. A. Nicholson, tr., and ed., The Mathnawi of Jalālu’ddin Rumi, translation, III, repr. 1977, p. 14.)

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The preeminent god of the Rig Veda is Indra, preeminent as much by the number of hymns addressed to him as by the wealth of the myths about him. Some 250 hymns are dedicated to him, while he shares honors with Vedic deities in 50 other hymns. Almost a third or more of the Rig Vedic hymns are concerned with Indra.

According to Georges Dumezil, Indra is a personification of the warrior class and as such he should be considered the Vedic homologue to the Greek Ares and Latin Mars.

Indra’s portrayal is that of a scorcher of the earth, the god inherent in the savagery of warfare, slaughtering, dealing out death and destruction at random.

From the Vedas we get an orgiastic, violent and cruel picture concerning Indra’s cult. Bloody animal sacrifices and ritual blood offerings were closely associated with the cult of Indra. This is well illustrated for example in Rig Veda 10.27. In the aforementioned verse the Vedic singer makes a promise to Indra of cooking a vigorous bull and pouring a sharp libation of soma for 15 days for him. The idea was to obtain Indra’s aid as the god of war by slaughtering a bull and mixing the blood with sóma/the wine offering.

(It is important to mention though that RV 10.27 is a critic toward those who sacrifice animals egoistically, for their own consumption and not in ritual sacrifice for the gods, Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

Indra’s special animal symbol was the bull and his name is mentioned during the midday oblation in the Agnishtoma and other sóma rites.

This daævic or demonic rite of mixing blood offering with the sacred wine (sóma) is most vehemently reviled in the poetic gathas, (See Yasna 48.10, 2^nd rhymed verse line or Yasna 32.12, 2^nd rhymed verse line.)

Furthermore, the idea to kill/murder a bull during sacred wine offering (sóma) to avert death and injury is alluded to and vigorously denounced in the poetic gathas, (See Yasna 32.14, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The Rig Veda describes how Agní (to ignite FIRE) and Sóma (Avestan haômá SACRED WINE) were passed from the side of Varuná to that of Indra. (See Verses 2 to 4 of hymn of hymn 10.124 of the Rig Veda.

As for the transit of the sóma, haômá SACRED WINE from the side of the ásuras/Avestan ahûra, Old Norse æsir, to that of devás look up Rig Veda 9.71.2 and 9.97.41.)

In the Rig Veda Varuna is the head of ásuras and Indra the head of devás. The vedic ásuras are the Avestan ahûrá and Old Norse æsir.

It is NOT the haômá (sacred wine) that prophet Zarathûshtrá so vehemently reviles but the killing of the bull and the demonic blood offerings and animal sacrifices associated with it in the blood libation rituals.

Another fascinating subject in the Vedas is the antagonism of the ari toward Indra. Thanks to the pioneering research of Renou, we know that ari has other derivatives such as áryá, aryamán. Ari in the Vedas are the “foreign Aryan lords or masters” the lordly foes of Indra. Ari are those ancient Aryans who still clung to their pristine worship of ásura or ahûrá religion.

(Herodotus (7.62) mentions that the Medes called themselves Arioi; Eratosthenes apud Strabo (15.2.8) speaks of Arianē as being between Persia and India; Eudemus of Rhodes apud Damascius (Dubitationes et solutiones in Platonis Parmenidem 125 bis) refers to “the Magi and all those of Iranian (áreion) lineage”; Diodorus Siculus (1.94.2) describes Zoroaster (Zathraustēs) as one of the Arianoi.)

Indra’s chief epithet is Vritrahán, a term associated with the Avestan Verethra-ghna, “to triumph over obstacles, be victorious, overcome.”

In the poetic gathas Verethrem-já is the charm/sacred formula of Victory (See Yasna 44.16,) it is also the most popular hymn in the Yasht collection of the Avesta.

The epithet vrthrahán does appear in RV 1.186.6c, 2.20.7a, 8.96.20a,21a, 10.74.6b as vṛtrahéndraḥis, (Courtesy of Didier Calin.) According to Rig Veda 10.24, Vrtra is the father ásura.

Apparently Indra has started to assume the function of a proto Aryan ásurá/ahûrá in the Vedic period.

Indra is ásura AND devá. Indra – as the continuation of the Proto-Indo-European Thundergod – becomes an asura (like Hittite Tarhunnas is a hassus!), and called so in RV 1.174.1ab “you, O Indra, are the king, O asura (râjendra … asura)!”, RV 8.90.6a+c asura … indra (in the vocative: “O Indra, O asura!” (Courtesy of Didier Calin.)

After the period of the Rig Veda, Vritrá becomes a Brahman, and by killing Vritrá Indra commits a crime for which he has to expiate.

However, the cult of Indra, prominent at the time of the composition of the Rig Veda, waned considerably under the influence of post-Vedic period. This diminution in Indra’s celebrity coincided with the rise of cults associated with Shivá “the auspicious one.”

It is erroneously assumed that Shiva is a pre Aryan god-power. That Shiva was the god of the Harappans, is based on a single Harappan finding, the so-called Pashu-pati seal. It depicts a man with a strange headwear sitting in lotus posture and surrounded by animals.  Though not well visible, he seems to have three faces, which may mean that he is a three-faced god (like the famous three-faced Shiva sculptures.) The common speculation is that this is Shiva in his Pashu-pati (protector of peaceful cattle) aspect.

Truth is that shivá (the bright, auspicious one) is an epithet of Rudra and other Vedic gods. Indra himself is called shivá several times (Rig-Veda 2:20:3, 6:45:17, 8:93:3).  Shiva is by no means a non-Aryan god-force. But shivá might go back to the older cult of ásuras and/or ahûrá.

The association of shivá with “crescent moon, powers of fertility, growth and his role as protector of peaceful cattle” is very much reminiscent of Aryan Zoroastrian symbolism. In the poetic gathas speñtá (auspicious, bright) is the epithet of ahûrá, See Yasna 51.16, 3^rd rhymed verse line for example.)

I shall add that the poetic style of speñtá mainyü gatha (auspicious mind force, bright power of the spirit) is the same as Indra poetry in the Vedas that in later times is taken over by the auspicious lord shivá.

Among other ásura/ahûrá epithets that Indra might have acquired later in the Vedas is yuvan “young.” For he is young, and has a youthful nature and at the same time has existed from time immemorial.

Above all his other epithets, is maghavan “great, the magnanimous, eminent in wisdom.” Magavan “great, eminent in wisdom” is the very term for the fellowship of Zarathûshtrá in the poetic gathas.

Indra is mentioned only twice in the Avestan commentaries of the poetic gathas, e.g the süd-kar commentary of Yasna 32. He is also mentioned twice in Vendidad 10.9 and Vendidad 19.43. He is the demon that stands opposed to “excellence, virtue, truth.” Indra in the Avesta is renowned for his opposition to the sacred belt; for the sacred belt is the symbol of the determination/fight to restore, renew and prosper the worlds.

Indra might have acquired some of the superb qualities of the older ásura, ahûrá cult during the Vedic period. However, he is a demon in essence because of his lust for blood sacrifice. For a true god-being never asks for the killing of innocent animals or other acts of ritual cruelty and sadism.

In Zoroastrianism, godhood is “virtue, excellence, goodness, triumph of spirit and boundless creativity.”

God-beings are NOT tyrannical, sadistic, spiteful, gloomy and arrogant autocrats. If so they are demons.

To be God means to be “good, mindful, wondrous, auspicious and bright.” And that is why devás such as Indra are not gods but demons, because they lack “mindfulness and virtue.”

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I like to sincerely thank Mr Didier Calin for his most valuable contributions/corrections, citations and linguistic advise!!!

July 1^st was the festival of Tištar, literally “Tri Star,” an astral god being or yazatá (worthy of adoration.) Tištar is the luckiest and most brilliant star in the night sky. The eighth song in the beautiful Avestan mythopoetic Yašt collection is dedicated to Tištar. Also the 13^th day of each Avestan Month is dedicated to Tištar. Hence number 13 is a lucky number among Zoroastrians.

Forssman (1968) puts the star Sirius in a direct and clear relationship with the three stars of Orion’s Belt (delta, epsilon, zeta Orionis.) Sirius would have been named as “the one who belongs to the three stars.” In the Vedic literature, the asterism of Orion’s Belt was represented as an arrow called iṣus trikāṇdā, shot by Tiṣya (or Rudra) towards Prajāpati.

According to Tištar Yašt 6-7 and 37-38, Tištar flies in the sky as the arrow shot by the most valiant archer of the Aryans, the hero erexša literally bear (Kellens 1977). Tištar combats apaôša “drought, scorching heat” and ominous shooting stars.

Tištar assumes the form of a fifteen-year-old young man, a virile bull with golden horns, and a splendid white horse to combat his antagonist apaôša “drought” who appears in the form of a black and gloomy horse. Each form takes ten days.

These three transformations astronomically cover the period beginning with the rising of the star Sirius in July and lasting till the first appearance of the meteor showers between August and September (Panaino, 1995, pp. 15-24).

Tištriia and the other stars are called afšciθra- in the Avesta. The epithet afšciθra translates into “having the seed/origin” of the waters/rains and/or “having the brilliance of the waters/rains.”

In Greek Mythology Astér Seirios is daughter of the Titan Atlas.

Homer, Iliad 5. 10 ff (trans. Lattimore) (Greek epic C8th B.C.):
“The star of the waning summer [Seirios, the Dog-Star] who beyond all stars rises bathed in Okeanos (the ocean stream) to glitter with brilliance.”

Homer, Iliad 22. 26 ff :
“That star [Seirios, the dog-star] which comes on in the autumn and whose conspicuous brightness far outshines the stars that are numbered in the night’s darkening, the star they give the name of Orion’s Dog (kynos Orionos), which is brightest among the stars, and yet is wrought as a sign of evil and brings on the great fever for unfortunate mortals.”

Book XXII Illiad:1-89 

The aged Priam was the first of all whose eyes saw him / as he swept across the flat land in full shining, like that star / which comes on in the autumn and whose conspicuous brightness / far outshines the stars that are numbered in the night’s darkening, / the star they give the name of Orion’s Dog, which is brightest / among the stars, and yet is wrought as a sign of evil / and brings on the great fever for unfortunate mortals. / Such was the flare of the bronze that girt his chest in his running

Interestingly, for Ancient Iranians Orion’s Tri Star is not only the brightest but the luckiest star in firmament.

In the Silmarillion (1977), a compendium of mythopoeic work by Tolkien Sirius is called Helluin by the Elves, who awoke to the world “when first Menelmacar strode up the sky and the blue fire of Helluin flickered in the mists above the borders of the world…

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The Zoroastrian worship implies a focus on faith/belief in the Ahûrá or Æsir. The Zoroastrian formula of faith ends with the words ahûra-tkaæšö “the teaching of the original god-powers.”

Ahûrá or Ahûrö means “lordship, supreme ability, artful command to bring into existence/being.”

In the Vedas, ásura (Avestan ahûrá) are called pūrvá-devah “primeval divine forces.”

Avestan ahûrá, Vedic ásura is derived from ahü, Vedic ásu literally “possessing ahü or ásu.” Ahü or ásu is “life-force, power to become manifest, strength to come to life.” Ahûrás correspond to “original life-forces, archetypes that animate.”

Ahûrás are called amešá or amertá “immortal, undying and indestructible (*n̥mr̥tṓs) because of their “lordship over being.”

The stem ah-ü or as-u (=artful command) has a relative in Old English os and in Old Norse aes/äs/áss as in Aesir (the gods, plural) or As-gard Old Norse “Ásgarðr” ” Enclosure of the Æsir.

The Germanic sub-branches have a stem ans- (ansu in runic), which is an extension of *an- “animate, bring to life/existence/being.” C. Watkins connects the root with Hittite hassu and Old Irish eisi (2001: 7-9). The reconstructed Proto Indo European *hénsus “god-power, force” (Skt ásuḥ “imposing, striking” ásuraḥ “godly, lordly, vigorously” Old Norse áss/ǫ́ss, pl. æsir and perhaps also Hittite ḫaššuš “master, ruler” are all synonyms.

The godhood of ahûrás lies in their virtue, excellence and their miraculous skill, and/or their superb mastery of máyá, “wondrous wisdom, magical knowledge.”

Ahûrás very much resemble the titan Prometheus who brought the “secret of fire and illumination” to the world. They are the primeval god-powers and lords of being.

In the Vedas, Varuna is Ásura par excellence. Varuna is called the auspicious father ásura in Rig Veda 10.124.3, śáṃsāmi pitré ásurāya śévam.

Varuna is not identical to Mazdá Ahûrá, but the virtues and qualities that make Varuna, “ásura/god- power par excellence” are identical to Mazdá Ahûrá.

For example in Rig Veda 8.6.10, Varuna is medhām “mindful/ insightful” as to r̥tá “rhythms patterns and formulas of the cosmic order” medhām r̥tásya jagrábha.

In Rig Veda 7.087.04a, Varuna is called medhira “full of passion, mind-power and wit” uvāca me váruṇo médhirāya. The epithet medhira corresponds to hû-mánzdrá in the poetic gathas, (See Yasna 30.1, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The closest definition for Ahûrá Mazdá in the Vedas is the term ásurasya māyáyā in RV 5.63.7 “magic of the ásuras, the magical substance, mind stuff of the æsir.”

5.063.07a     dhármaṇā mitrāvaruṇā vipaś.citā

5.063.07b     vratā^́rakṣethe ásurasya māyáyā

5.063.07c     r̥téna víśvam bhúvanaṃ ví rājathaḥ

5.063.07d     sū^́ryam ā^́ dhattho diví cítriyaṃ rátham

Another most important fact is that all the original ásura or god powers in the Rig Veda such as Heat/Fire/Fervor, Soma “sacred elixir of immortality,” Mitra “amiable intercession, mediation,” Baga “good fortune” Aryaman “noble mind/disposition” Verethrem-já “victorious triumph” are god-powers and worthy of worship in the poetic gathas.

Óðinn, the greatest of the Aesir, with his association with “wisdom and powers of mind to recall and summon into being;” corresponds also very closely to ahûrá mazdá.

Thus the religious poetry of the poetic gathas unfolds into a multiplicity of ahûrás or god-beings. The gathic poetry shows the god-force as both Singular and simultaneously Plural (Mazdá and his ahûrás) See Yasna 30.9 and Yasna 31.4. Among other ways that the multiplicity and unity of the god-force is demonstrated, is by the simultaneous address to Thou and You in numerous sacred gathic verses.

However, the multiplicity of ahûrás or god-beings is always accompanied by a clear recognition that ultimately the many ahûrás are only names for the different aspects of Mazdá “the creativity and originality of mind-power, spirit, passionate will.”

Yet, it is of paramount importance to add that in the entire poetic gathas, the whole Avestan lore or anywhere in the ancient Zoroastrian literature there is NO TRACE of a shema or adonai echad like formula such as Deuteronomy 6: 4-9.

In conclusion, I shall emphasize that Zoroastrianism unlike almost all other Indo European faiths is against the worship of deus or deities and calls itself vî-daævö “without or opposed to diabolical deities.”

Avestan vî corresponds to Gothic wiþra, Old High German widar “against, opposed,” daævö corresponds to *dei̯u̯ṓs, “deity, heavenly gods.” Throughout Indo European poetry *dei̯u̯ṓs are anthropomorphic deified beings.

In Zoroastrianism, while devas are very real and not imaginary at all, they are not worthy of worship because of their despotism, arrogance and deviance from virtue and eternal quest for excellence and betterment.

In fact deities embody “trickster archetypal characters” in Zoroastrianism. They are considered diabolical, fond of bloodshed, warfare, animal sacrifice and all things that break/bend the rules of virtue, goodness and godliness.

Devas in the Avesta are linked to the drûj or drûg “deception, treachery, lie;” *dʰreu̯gʰ– “to deceive” Old Norse draugr “phantom,” Vedic dróghaḥ “deceiving,” Grk λάµια ‘female devourer ghost called *dʰu̯es.

Nonetheless, when the ancient Greeks encountered the ancient Aryan Iranians and attempted to map the Zoroastrian religion onto their own beliefs, they identified Ahura Mazda with Zeus, and Ahriman with infernal Hades.

I shall conclude by the Zoroastrian formula of faith:

Fra-varánæ mazda-yasnö zarathûštriš

vî-daêvô ahûra-tkaæšö

I choose forth to be a zealous worshipper of Mazdá “the inspiring, creative power of spirit/mind” a follower of Zarathushtra, opposed to diabolical deities, adhering to the teaching of the original god-powers, the ahûra, æsir.

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Mazdá is the Ahûrá/Æsir par excellence in Zoroastrianism. Mazdá is the essence of godhood and all the ahûrás/æsir are different aspects, virtues, powers of Mazdá.

Mazdá and/or Ma(n)zdá (*mens-dheh-) incorporates the Indo European noun *mens of the stem ménos “mind-force, passion, spirit, will power, determination, resolve” and the verb dheh “to set, establish, do, create.” (Courtesy of Didier Calin)

Mazdá is thus “creative mind-force, power of the spirit/mind to devise, create, innovate.”

The closest synonym to Ahûrá Mazdá in the Vedas is the term ásurasya māyáyā in RV 5.63.7 “magic of the ásuras, the magical substance, mind stuff of the æsir, the creativity/innovative mind-power of the god beings.”

Meðá, “mind-power, creativity, imagination and vision” is the Vedic equivalent for Mazdá and occurs as an epithet of the god-beings in the Vedas. The followings are all the instances that the term Meðá is revealed in the Rig Veda.

1.018.06c     saním medhā^́m ayāsiṣam

2.034.07d    saním medhā^́m áriṣṭaṃ duṣṭáraṃ sáhaḥ

4.033.10a     yé hárī medháyā ukthā^́ mádanta

5.027.04d    dádan medhā^́m r̥tāyaté

5.043.13a     ā^́ dharṇasír br̥háddivo rárāṇo
5.043.13b     víśvebhir gantu ómabhir huvānáḥ
5.043.13c     gnã^́ vásāna óṣadhīr ámr̥dhras
5.043.13d     tridhā^́tuśr̥ṅgo vr̥ṣabhó vayodhā^́ḥ

7.104.06c     yā^́ṃ vāṃ hótrām parihinómi medháyā

8.006.10b    medhā^́m r̥tásya jagrábha

8.052.09d    stotúr medhā^́ asr̥kṣata

9.009.09c   sánā medhā^́ṃ sánā súvaḥ

9.026.03a   táṃ vedhā^́m medháyāhiyan

9.032.06c   saním medhā^́m utá śrávaḥ

9.065.16a     rā^́jā medhā^́bhir īyate

9.107.25d     medhā^́m abhí práyāṃsi ca

10.091.08a   medhākāráṃ vidáthasya prasā^́dhanam

In Rig Veda 7.087.04a, Varuna is called meðira “full of passion, mind-power and wit” uvāca me váruṇo médhirāya.

Although the Vedic Varuna seems to have the same qualities/virtues as Ahûrá Mazdá; and Óðinn seem to be almost the same as the Mindful/Insightful Lord of Zoroastrianism, the closest to the idea of Mazdá in the Indo European lore are probably the MUSES.

Muses were the primordial nine personifications of CREATIVE INSIGHT and were of one spirit/mind. It was believed that Muses inspired music, melody and song.

By calling upon and receiving the mind-power, wisdom/creative insight of the Muses, a poet, seer or musician could transcend the bounds of talent and rise to unimagined, new levels of creativity and intuitive wisdom.

The noun Μοῦσα derives from the Indo-European root *men-, “think, put in mind” in verb formations with transitive function and “have in mind, be mindful of, commit to memory” in those with intransitive function.

This is reflected in the mythological relationship of the divine Muses with μνημοσύνη in the sense of “poetic recall,” the skill of making song and poetry through the power of mind, memory and imagination.

Muses were invoked at the beginning of various lyrical poems, so that the Muses give inspiration or speak through the seer-poet’s words.

The Muses—collectively “the mind/intent/spirit” of the seer-poet—begin and end with forms of *men-/mneh2- and/or *h2u̯eid- in the Homeric Hymns.

Mortal men who have been instructed by the Muses were raised aloft to heaven [ouranos], for creativity, imagination and the power of thought/mind lift men’s souls to heavenly heights; (Compare with Yasna 28.4, 1^st rhymed verse line of the poetic gathas.)

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June the 25^th is the feast of IMMORTALITY “ameretát” in the Avestan Calendar.

In the Indo-European poetry it is a basic feature of the god beings that they are “immortal and destined for eternity.”

Ameretát “immortality, deathlessness” is one of the virtues/god-powers of Mazdá in the poetic gathas.

In the Younger Avesta, the “ahûrás of mazdá” are simply referred to as amešá or amertá “immortal, undying, unfading (*n̥mr̥tós)” with the title speñtá “bright, auspicious.” Hence, amešá/amertá speñtá “the auspicious immortals.”

In Avestan, the idea of “the sacred” speñtá is that of “an auspicious and bright force swollen with abundant energy and unfading vitality.”

The “Sacred/Auspicious Immortals” are constantly invoked in the poetic gathas, they are virtues/god-powers and guardian saints of the elements in the physical realm. They teach the mortal men to become “Immortals, un-ageing, un-decaying and undying.

For in contrast to the Immortals, the humans are mortals “mašyá/martyá.” (The Persian word for man “mard” and “mardom” refers to the mortality of mankind.)

In Zoroastrianism, the Auspicious Immortals inspire mortals with a “superhuman force” to be just like the gods. As we read in the poetic gathas, Yasna 48.1, 3^rd rhymed verse line “Immortality will triumph over demonic forces and mortal men.”

For demons, death and mortality represent limitation. But the unfading energy of mind-power/passion unleashed represents Mazdá, will regenerate the creation and inspire it to be undying, un-ageing and immortal.

The godlike supermen of Ahûrá Mazdá, will reshape the world in splendid excellence, and make it un-ageing, undying, un-decaying, eternal and forever young, as is in the ideal (vasö/wish for) dominion. (Yašt. 19. 11).

ýat kerenavãn frašem ahüm

azarešeñtem amarešeñtem

afrithyañtem apuyañtem

ýavaæ-jim ýavaæ-sum vasö-xšathrem 

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Zoroastrianism and democracy

These days, it is very common to come across the preposterous portrayal of present-day modern ideas and values into depictions and/or interpretations of the ancient Zoroastrian wisdom.

Such approach instead of depicting the ancient Zoroastrian sacred poetry in its objective historical context– views it through the lens of contemporary modern beliefs and creates a highly distorted understanding of the ancient sacred verses.

The ancient Zoroastrian sacred poetry and lore could only and only be understood in its comparative ancient Indo European context. Even ideas that are wholly novel and unique to Zoroastrianism could only be objectively grasped in their ancient Indo European and proto Indo European historical background.

Among such uncorroborated arguments is the proposition that Zoroastrianism advocates democracy and that “yatha ahu” formula is the principle of democracy!!!!!!

The poetic gathas start with the most sacred yathá ahü vairyö formula “the will to become godlike.” This formula is repeated innumerable times throughout Avesta “the book of unknown or hidden wisdom” and also prescribes the Zoroastrian form of government.

The first line of the most sacred verse reads: yathá ahü vairyö//athá ratüš ašát čit hačá “the will to become a god-being is realized through RATÜ whose soul knows the Truth of virtue, excellence and artistry “ašá.”

Ratü is the knower of riddles, rites and formulas, the wise counsel, spiritual leader/guide. Ratü has the figurative sense of “lead, guide” and the literal sense “counsel, rate, judge, reason.” We have here the notion of “reasoning, computing, deciphering, decoding and creative interpretation.”

Ratü is connected to Latin Ratiô, the technical term for “calculation, computation and right measure.”

Ratü comes from an ancient root that implies “reckoning, creative reasoning, thinking, understanding and finding the right order.” The root also denotes “recounting, telling, advising.”

We pass directly from the “willpower to become a god being or god-king” to that of “creative thinking for solving riddles and unraveling the right formula.”

Ratü conveys the notion of finding the key to or discovering the right formula to a puzzle” that is to say, “to creatively think/reason while assuming the responsibility of power/leadership.”

The poetic gathas and Zoroastrianism advocate the holding of power/leadership by “the uniquely brilliant/the best” selected on the basis of their creative judgment/reasoning. It is a form of government that places power/rule in the hands of a ruling class of experts. This regime is ruled by lovers of knowledge/discovery and thus is grounded on insight and creativity.

Per the Váršt-manßar commentary of Yasna 30.9, 3^rd rhymed verse line of the poetic gathas; EVERY Zoroastrian has to choose a god-being (ahvö,) “patron spirit” or yazatá “adorable god-force” and a scholar ratuu or dastür as their spiritual counsel and authority on all questions except those so clearly and universally resolved as not to require expert guidance.

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According to the Avesta (book of unknown/hidden wisdom) “hamaß.path.maiðya” or Vernal Equinox marks the beginning of the religious year.

The Avestan term “hamaß.path.maiðya” refers specifically to the precise moment when the celestial paths (Avestan path) are at an equal/same length (hamaß) from each other and the Sun is in the center/middle position (maiðya;) in other words, the exact moment of Equinox.

The Zoroastrian religious calendar has exactly 12 months of 30 days each plus 5 gatha/song days at the end of each year.

However, a solar calendar is around 365 ¼ days, which the Seasonal Avestan calendar accommodates by adding one day every four years (a leap day called avardaad,) or an extra month every 120 years as prescribed in Denkart (III.419.)

The qadimi and shänšaaii are respectively folk Zoroastrian Iranian and Parsi calendars that did NOT add an extra day in leap years and/or a 13^th month each 120 years; as required by holy Denkart. Hence these folk calendars moved into mid-summer.

It appears that the last time that the Parsi Nauv-rooz coincided with the Vernal equinox was about 600 years ago according to the Parsi Shänšaaii reckoning. The last time that Iranian Zoroastrian qadimi coincided with vernal equinox was about 500 years ago.

The difference of a month between Iranian qadimi (ancient) and Parsi royal calendar could be explained in term of implementation of an extra 13 month for another century or so in Iran.

An almost identical calendar to that of folk Zoroastrian qadimi or Parsi Calendar is still in use in the lush Caspian Mountains of Northern Iran.

This is due to the fact the Caspian province of Mazandaran was ruled by a Zoroastrian dynasty until 1597. Their downfall occurred during the rule of Shah Abbas the Safavid (1587-1628 CE.)

The Mazdandarani Nauvrooz (East Caspian) is celebrated around the 24 or 25 July.

The Gilani Nauvrooz (West Caspian) known also as Nauvrooz Bal or Nowrouz Bal is celebrated on 6 or 7 August.

The term Bal refers to the “brilliancy of fire” and is translated as the Nauvrooz of “brilliant fire.”

Also, along the Persian Gulf coast, there is a Nauvrooz -e daryaaii (Seafaring Nauvrooz) celebrated on 31 July or 1 August.

All these celebration are reminiscent of the last Zoroastrian enclaves/strongholds who were forcefully converted during the cruel Safavid rule.

In conclusion, I shall add that in most sections in Persian astronomical works, which describe various calendars, one comes across a Nauv-rooz-e bozôrg (Great Nowruz) on the 6th day after Nauvrooz. The “Great Nauv-rooz” is also called Nauv-rooz -e ḵordáḏi (Nowruz of the day of Ḵordád.

Ḵordád (Avestan haûrvatát, “every healing power, remedy”) is the name given to the 6^th day of every ancient Iranian month. Nauv-rooz-e bozôrg or ḵordáḏi marks the birthday of ancient Aryan seer/prophet Zarathûštrá, a day of healing, restoration of all life powers, growth and new rebirth.

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In the Zoroastrian religion, Trees are earthly embodiments of Ameretát “Immortality, Deathlessness, Life ever-lasting.” Specifically ancient trees, evergreens and healing herbs exemplify Immortals and Immortality.

Zoroastrian Priests are enjoined in the Avesta (book of hidden, unknown wisdom) to hold sacred branches of evergreens or fruit trees in the hand while reciting the sacred Avestan verses and conducting religious ceremonies.

As powerful life symbols, trees are venerated in many sacred Avestan verses, See Yasna 16.89, 17.12, 17.16 for example.

Forests and woods are considered to be the home of god-beings. The Avestan word for “god, good fortune or blessed/lucky portion” is “bagá and/or baγa,” (Compare with Russian *bȏgъ.) The Persian word for “lush garden with trees” is “bágh/báγ” derived from the same Avestan root for god/good fortune.

Furthermore, in Zoroastrian sacred poetry there is a close connection between “trees and truth.”

For example in the 99^th verse of the hymn to Fra.vashis or “Primordial Ideals/Guardian Spirits,” The sage ruler Vištáspá, searches for truth in trees/woods and ancient rocks drû-ča paûrvãn-ča. (Kind reminder of Didier Calin, See also Watkins)

The Persian word for tree, deraḵt comes from Avestan dauru, Proto Indo European *dóru, Old Slavonic drŭva “wood,” Gothic triu, Old Norse tré, Old English tréow “tree.” (See Didier Calin)

The close link between trees, seers, prophecy/oracles and truth is demonstrated for example in the süd-kar gathic commentary of Yasna 31, wherein the ages of the world, understanding the past and forecast into the future is illustrated via Tree symbolism.

In the poetic gathas, “lushness, verdure and power of growth” are ascribed to artistry and excellence of Mazda “god of creativity and genius,” (See Yasna 48.6, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

There is also mention of a support holding (deretá) the earth (zám) below and nebulous, celestial skies (nabávß) above, in the poetic gathas (See Yasna 44.4, 2^nd rhymed verse line.) The gathic verse is very similar to Rig Veda:

8.041.10e     ajó ná dyā^́m ádhārayan
8.041.10f     nábhantām anyaké same

The reference to a cosmic or archetypal tree is repeated in the Avestan hymn to Rašnü, the god force of “rightness, accuracy and truth.”

Rašnü is paralleled by Latin rectus, Gothic raihts, German recht, (See Emile Benveniste, although there is no absolute certainty/consensus among linguists regarding the etymology of Rašnü.)

In verse 17, we read of the cosmic or archetypal tree. The tree has the combined seeds of all plants van-î vaß-tôḵmag or van-î har.vißp-tôḵmag. It grows in the middle of the wide-shored ocean (vôurû-kaša.) It is an “all-healer” or “all-remedy tree” (vîßpö-biš,) that drips the immortal nectar of haômá.

The mythical bird Sîmorḡ is said to perch on it every year to mix its seeds with water, which Tištar (Tri-star Sirius) then rains down on all the regions of the world, thus propagating all kinds of healing plants. Öhrmazd has planted the “sacred white Höm (Avestan haôma), near the all-remedy tree, in order to keep away decrepitude and old age (zarmān) by imparting immortality to anyone who partakes of it.

ýat-čit ahi rašnvö ašáum

ûpa avãm vanãm ýãm saænahä

ýá hi-štaitæ maiðîm zray.ang.hö vôurû-kašahæ

ýá hû-biš ereðwö-biš

ýá vaôče vîspö-biš nãma

ýãm upairi ûrvaranãm

vîspa.nãm taôḵma ni-ðayat

Whether thou, O virtuous Rašnuu! art on the tree of the eagle/ sîmorḡ, that stands in the middle of the wide-shored sea/ocean vôurû-kaša, that is called the tree of good remedies, the tree of powerful remedies, the tree of all remedies, and in which is held the seeds of all/everything!

European travelers encountered many sacred trees in Iran even into the Islamic times. Marco Polo (I, p. 127) recounts the fabled “cypress of Zoroaster” in his memoirs. The venerable attitude toward “trees and sacred spots” has continued in Iran to the present day, but with the transfer of devotion to Muslim saints, especially Twelver Shiʿites.

Yet it is important to add that under the Zoroastrian jurisprudence, trees enjoyed a wide range of special protections, care and great reverence. However, after the fall of Zoroastrian state, this legal protection has all but disappeared. This has unfortunately resulted in continuous deforestation of the land and great indifference to the natural environment.

ardeshir

For all who might be interested, Didier Calin provides a comprehensive etymology of tree (/oak) here:

PIE *dóru, G *dréus, Ht. tāru ‘wood’, allantaru- ‘oak’; Luw. tāru; HierLuw. /tāru/; In. dâru, G dróḥ; Av. dauru, G draoš; Gr. dóru ‘tree trunk, spear’, drũs ‘tree, oak’; Alb. dru ‘wood, tree’, drushk ‘oak’; OIr. daur; W darw ‘oak’; OSl. drŭva ‘wood’; Toch. A/B or ‘wood’; from a derivative *dréwom: Goth. triu; ON tré; OE trēow (> E tree); Lith. drevė and Lv. drava ‘apiary’; Lv. drāva ‘natural hollow in a tree where bees nest’; from *dérwom: ON tjara; OE teoru (> E tar); Br./W derw ‘oak’; OSl. drĕvo; Lith. dervà and Lv. (dialectal) derva ‘tar’; from *dórwo-: Lv. darva ‘tar, pitch’.

Patet (pronounced correctly as patît) are 10 or 18 days of “reflection and pondering” before the ushering in of nauv-rooz or the new-year.

The word patît comes from the Avestan paiti and means: “on the way to, in the direction of, on the road to, en route to, in preparation of/for.” (Compare Avestan paiti with Greek potí and/or protí, Old Vedic práti, Old Church Slavonic protivū and Latvian preti.)

Avestan paiti is “going back to the beginning,” pondering and reflecting over our life (good and bad) in preparation of new-year and a fresh new beginning.

(Armenian bozpayat or bazpayit has the same sense as patît.)

Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa and other Old Indian texts confirm that the practice of acknowledging sin/past mistakes goes back to Indo-Iranian times and the worship of the Old Indian asuras (supreme god-beings like Varuna.)

Just as we do a thorough spring-cleaning, by cleaning our homes and buying new clothes before the new-year, patît renews and cleanses our souls.

There are 4 extant patît texts, all in Pá-Zand (literally footnote to Zand or knowledge/Avestan commentaries. Pá-Zand is a late form of Pahlavi/middle Iranian, including New Persian forms, written in the Avestan alphabet).

There is patît of khûd or self; patît ehrih (honor) for all those who share our blood, honor and destiny; patît rûván purification/reflection for our soul; and the patît pašî-mánî. The word pašî-mánî has come to mean regret in modern Persian but it meant originally “the objective before the will/mind.”

Through patît or going back to the beginning, integrity is restored and we become cleansed in body and soul for the coming of the new-year. It is a moment of truth, a look into the mirror of our souls, a worthy and noble tradition to keep and cherish.

ardeshir

The poetic gathas are the sacred, inspired poetry of the Prophet Zarathûštrá and in Yasna 46.5 and 46.6 he addresses the issue of offering protection, refuge.

Giving refuge/protection is possible under these three conditions “urvátöiš vá hû-zéñtuš mithrö-ibyö vá.”

The first condition is urvátöiš from urvátá, namely “binding word or formula, law, command.” There shall be some “word, oath and bond” between the ones giving refuge and the one seeking refuge.

(Compare Avestan urvátöiš from urvátá with Lithuanian vardas “name,” Gothic, waúrd “word,” Russian vru pagan formula/lie, Vedic vrata “law, order” Proto Indo European ver “to bind.”)

The second condition is hû-zéñtuš being of “good génos.” The idea is that of innate goodness and nobility of character.

(Compare Avestan zéñtuš with Latin genus, Greek génos)

The third condition is mithrö-ibyö “intercession, friendship.” The Avestan Mithra “Intercessor, loving Friend” is the god-power of “amiable or amicable exchange.” In other words, “bonds of friendship or good-natured amiability” constitutes the last possibility for offering refuge.

(Compare Avestan Mithra with meit, Latin mūtō, Gothic maidjan, Latvian mietuót Vedic metháti “exchange” in an amiable or amicable manner.)

Those who seek refuge shall live in rightness, honesty and justice “rašná jváns.”

Offering refuge is only to the ašava that is to the “virtuous, good and true” and not to dregvañtem or a follower of tricks and lies (Compare Avestan drug with German lug and trug.)

Only those who share our values and abide by our virtues are worthy of our passionate protection and refuge. Those who hold for good and excellent, virtues such as reverence for nature, love/kindness to animals, industry, enterprising spirit, honor and honesty, shall be given refuge amongst us.

The ancient Aryan Prophet admonishes to truly see/observe with “prophetic wisdom” víčirö the difference between the virtuous and the vile, between those who share our ideals, values and those who do NOT; in order to avoid bloodshed, cruelty and civil war ḵrünyát.

(Compare Avestan ḵrünyát with Lithuanian kraūjas, Old Church Slavonic Krúví, Old Prussian Krawian, Germanic króuh2os “blood,” Latin crūdelís “cruel”)

For he/she is treacherous who is good to the liar and treacherous

And he/she is virtuous who is a friend to the good and virtuous

Such is the pristine wisdom/vision established by the god-force

hvö zî dregváv ýé dregváitæ vahištö

hvö ašavá ýahmái ašavá fryö

hyat daænáv paôurûyáv dáv ahûrá.

ardeshir

Below is the transliteration and translation of Yasna 46.5

ýé vá ḵšayáns adáns drîtá ayañtem

urvátöiš vá hû-zéñtuš mithröibyö vá

rašná jváns ýé ašavá dregvañtem

vîčirö háns tat frö ḵvaætavæ mrûyát

uzüithyöi îm mazdá ḵrünyát ahûrá.

As for one who shall take into his dominion/kingdom one coming

On the basis of a binding word/formula or oath, or on the basis of good nature or noble birth or on the basis of loving friendship

One who is living in rightness, a genuinely good and virtuous, apart from the vile or treacherous

Telling his/her own with prophetic wisdom to truly see/observe

In order to guard against, cruelty and bloodshed, O God of Wisdom and Genius

ardeshir

Paitiš-hahya is the name of the 3rd out of the six Zoroastrian thanksgiving festivals, marking the end of summer. Paitiš-hahya literally means “towards the harvest.”

This auspicious holiday falls almost a week before the autumnal equinox, starting on September 12th and culminating on September 16th. It is a time to honor “crops, bountifulness and harvest.”

It is an auspicious time to discern the germ of new beginnings. Bonfires are lit to mark the transition into the cold season and longer nights. It is a time to gather in joy and celebrate “love, fertility, and fruit-bearing trees.”

Paitiš-hahya consists of 2 parts. The first part of the word paitiš comes from the Avestan paiti meaning: “Towards, on the way to, in the direction of, on the road to, en route to.” Compare Avestan paiti with Greek potí and/or protí, Old Vedic práti, Old Church Slavonic protivū and Latvian preti “towards.”

The second part hahya “grain, fruit, crops” comes from the same root as Welsh haidd, Briton heiz, “rye, barley,” Vedic sasya “seed-field, crop,” Hittite sesa(na) “fruit.”

Hahya appears in the poetic gathas in the form of hang.hûš “abundance, plenty, bountifulness.” (See Yasna 53.4, 3^rd rhymed verse line.) This thanksgiving holiday is about the celebration of fertility in nature and ourselves, a time to honor harvest, crops, love, and the power of productiveness.

ardeshir

It is common among many religious traditions to offer animal sacrifice or to kill an innocent animal for the perceived wellbeing and longevity of the supplicant.

The innocent victim could be a sheep, a cow or even a poor chicken or rooster. The idea is that innocent animal life is slaughtered to ensure the dispelling of any misfortune from the supplicant and assure the supplicant’s long, prosperous life.

There is a ritual that sums up the reason behind animal sacrifice in few words of prayer. Supplicants swing a live chicken/rooster around their heads three times while saying a prayer that means: “This is my exchange, this is my substitute, this is my expiation. This chicken/rooster shall go to death and I shall proceed to a good, long life and peace.”

The chicken/rooster is then slaughtered and, traditionally, donated to the poor.

But what does the ancient Prophet Zarathushtra say to animal sacrifice???

We read in the poetic gathas, Yasna 32.12:

ýá rávng.hayen srav.ang.há//vahištát šyaöthanát maretánö

aæibyö mazdáv aká mraôt//ýöi géuš möreñden urváḵš-uḵtî jyötüm

ýáiš geréhmá ašát varatá//karapá ḵšathrem.čá îšanãm drûjem.

With their songs of havoc//they avert mortals from best activity/industry,

For them Mazda, the God of creative mind-power/passion has spoken malediction/damnation//Those who murder the living animal with cries of joy,

Instead of willing virtue, excellence//the ritual priests have chosen greed, desiring the kingdom of lies and trick!

We also read in the 3^rd rhymed verse line of Yasna 32.14:

hyat.čá gáûš jaidyái mraôî//ýé düraôšem saôčayat avö

When the living animal is spoken for slaughter, they say the dispeller of misfortune/death is lit up in our favor.

To sum it up, Zoroastrianism believes in personal responsibility. No living being carries the sins of others. Animal sacrifice does not wipe out our sins, obligations or responsibilities. It does NOT erase anything but only brings damnation and malediction. It is just a vile carnival of cruelty.

For Zarathushtra, Godhood is virtue, goodness, wisdom and genuine feeling. The best offering to the divine is light, virtue, goodness and genuineness embodied in holy water and wine.

Only demonic deities demand the killing of innocent animal life instead of virtue and light!

ardeshir

The holy denkart in book 3, question 9 deals with a profound question that is relevant today. The question posed is if the poetic gathas are the only basis/source of the Zoroastrian religion??? The holy denkart considers the very question as erroneous arising from utter ignorance over the nature of the poetic gathas.

The Avestan word gatha/gáthá “sacred verse/poetry is one of several words built on a root that is common to the Indo European world in the east and west.

Gáthá is used of prophetic utterances/songs from god-beings, of divine riddles in sacred verse or melodious singing, accompanied by musical instruments.

Compare Avestan gáthá “sacred song/poetry with Lithuanian giedóti “sing,” giesmé ‘song of praise’; Slavonic gudú ‘sing with a stringed instrument’; Old English gieddian ‘sing’, giedd, gidd “song, poem, divine riddle.”

Gathas are like muses, creative inspirations and/or guides leading one to become god-like and to Immortals.

The holy denkart declares “the will to become god-like” or the most sacred yathá ahü vairyö formula to be the very spirit of the gathas. The entire sacred gathic poetry is accordingly a musing/meditation on the will to become god-like.

Avestan ahü, Vedic ásu, Old English ós, Old Norse aes/äs/áss as in Aesir (the gods, plural) ansu in runic, all mean “god, the force/power to animate, manifest, bring to existence.”

Denkart masterfully argues that gathas by their own admission are first and foremost mánθrás. Mánθrá comes from the root *men “ to think, imagine, spark, inspire, impassion with creativity, imagination, mind-power.” Hence Mánθrá is a sacred formula or more precisely “the ability of mind to be imaginative, forming new ideas and to be creative.”

In answering question number 9, the holy denkart argues that by limiting the religion to the poetic gathas only, the inspiring nature of the poetic gathas is grossly ignored.

Gathas are melodious mind formulas, filled with endless meaning and spirit, capable of infinite exploration. AVESTA is their interpretation or literally “exposition of their unknown wisdom.” Their interpretation results in a labyrinth of ideas and expansion of their unbounded wisdom, which is also godly-inspired and divine according to holy denkart.

To abruptly discard the precedence of their old age interpretations or AVESTA is an evasion of the gathic principal of endless learning.

Yasná 19 refers to mánθrá as hû-mata “good thought, good spirit, good disposition.” In the Vedas, mantra is referred to as a sumatí- or sumnám with the same exact meaning.

The poetic gathas by their very essence demand infinite exploration of consciousness and expansion of wisdom/knowledge to become Immortals.

To deny the precedence of the ancient art of unlocking their riddles is not in line with their inspiring meaning, creative spirit or good thinking.

ardeshir